Wabash County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 1 of 16)

The whole text

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Chicago And New York

Henry Corbin Pettit. Probably no family in the history of Wabash county has given more faithful, able and distinguished public service during a lon£ period of years as the Pettit. In the law, in local affairs, and in the larger interests and stations of national life, the record is almost continuous from the time John U. Pettit settled at Wabash as a pioneer more than seventy years ago until one splendid chapter of individual accomplishment and influence was concluded in the death of Henry C. Pettit on July 26, 1913.

Henry Corbin Pettit was born at Wabash November 20, 1863, a son of John Upfold and Julia (Brenton) Pettit. The family was established in America by John Pettit, an English gentleman who emigrated early in the eighteenth century and settled in Connecticut. Through him and his wife the line is traced to their son Jonathan, born in 1752, and who married Agnes Riddell; to their son George, bom in 1780, who married Jane Upfold, and they in turn were the parents of John U. Pettit. Jon¬ athan Pettit, who was born at Sharon, Connecticut, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and thus the Pettit family at Wabash is one of the few in the county with Revolutionary antecedents. George Pettit, who was bora at Albany, established the profession of law in the lineage, and his record as an attorney and jurist was maintained by both his son and grandson.

John U. Pettit, who was regarded as one of the best read lawyers and a man of many brilliant parts during his generation in Wabash county, was born at Fabius, New York, in 1820, graduated at Union College in Schenectady in 1839, and established his home at Wabash in 1841, be¬ ginning the practice of law among the pioneer bar of Northeastern In¬ diana. While he followed the law for many years, much of his life was spent in active public service. In 1850 he was appointed Consul at Maranham, Brazil, serving also as vice-consul, which gave him super¬ vision of ten other consulates in Northern Brazil. On returning from South America, he was elected from the eleventh Indiana district to congress, and was representative from 1854 until 1860. In 1864 Miami and Wabash counties sent him as their representative to the Indiana legislature, and re-elected for the following term, served as speaker of the house. During the war he was chosen colonel of the Seventy-fifth Regiment of Indiana Infantry, but ill health compelled him to resign his commission before seeing active service. He later took a prominent part in the organization of the Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Knightstown, Indiana. In 1872 he was elected to the office of judge of the circuit court comprising the counties of Miami and Wabash, and held that posi¬ tion until October 22, 1879. In early life he was a Democrat, but in 1856 began to support the principles of the new Republican party and held to that faith until his death in 1881. Judge Pettit was married November 25, 1858, to Miss Julia Brenton, and they were the parents of the following children : Otto Brenton, Nellie Holmes, Henry Corbin, Eliza Hamilton, Jane Upfold, and Mary Heffron. Mrs. Pettit survived her husband until July 18, 1908, and both are now at rest in Wabash cemetery.

Henry Corbin Pettit, second son of his parents, received his early education in the* schools of Wabash, and while in his sophomore year in the high school was given an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he was graduated in 1883. It was his ambition to pur¬ sue a public career through the avenue of the navy, but the fact that so large a class was graduated from the academy in that year made it necessary to eliminate some from the service, and he thus returned home and took up the study of law in the office of Judge Calvin Cowgill and Judge Shively. Admitted to the bar on March 20, 1886, a few days later he was admitted to practice in the supreme and appellate courts of the state, and on January 1, 1887, was admitted in the United States courts of Indianapolis. At the same time he began practice as a member of the law firm of Cowgill & Shively, and subsequently w as in practice with Thomas L. Stitt under the firm name of Pettit & Stitt, but with¬ drew in 1897 to become legal adviser for the firm of A. M. Atkinson & Son, loan agents for the Aetna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut.

Though recognized as one of the ablest lawyers at the Wabash bar, and with a large and satisfactory, practice for a quarter of a century, Mr. Pettit, like his father, was much in public service and was honored both at home and outside the state. In 1887 he became a member of the Wabash City council, and was elected mayor for two years in 1888, being the youngest executive the city ever had. In 1894 he wTas elected to the Indiana General Assembly, was re-elected in 1898, and during his second term was speaker of the house of representatives. Governor Mount in 1899 appointed him a member of the Morton Monument Com¬ mission. In 1900 President McKinley gave him appointment as a mem¬ ber of the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy, and the same president in the following year made him United States Marshal for the district of Indiana, an office to which he was re-appointed by President Roosevelt, and his service was continuous for practically ten years, until May, 1911.

The late Mr. Pettit w as a charter member of Wabash Lodge Knights of Pythias, and belonged to St. Anastasia Mesnil Lodge of Odd Fellows, which was founded and named by his father. He also had membership

A brief estimate of his character was thus phrased by one who knew him well: 4 * He was essentially a man who did things. Endowed with a clear and active mind, tirelessly industrious, persistent and inde¬ fatigable in the discharge of every duty, unswerving in his devotion to what he believed to be right, kind and considerate to all with whom he was associated, broad minded and generous, the world is the better for his having lived in it. In his personal relations he was unfalteringly loyal, and was preeminently faithful to every trust. His fidelity, whether in his political, professional or private life, was proverbial. He courted and enjoyed the felicities of the family circle, and it was in his home that he found his greatest happiness."

On October 3, 18S8, Mr. Pettit was married to Eva Stitt, daughter of William S. and Mary (Lutz) Stitt. Mrs. Pettit and their one daugh¬ ter survive, Mary, who was born in 1898.

It was with more than an ordinary sense of community loss that Wabash county regarded the recent death of Mr. Pettit. Quiet and unassuming in matters that pertained to himself and his own interests, he had been one who could not be silenced when matters relating to the public welfare came up for discussion. A man of ambition and filled with energy, it was hard work that brought on the illness preceding his death. The life of such a citizen is one of the factors that has lifted Wabash to a high position among Indiana communities, and while his achievements were noteworthy and his success was above the average, it can be truly said that his most distinctive achievement was his charac¬ ter - that supreme attribute which remains when the earthly tabernacle dissolves.

Charles S. Haas. Indelibly impressed on the pages of Wabash's business history, the name of Charles S. Haas stands conspicuously forth as that of one who has been prominent in newspaper work and in financial circles of the city. He has possessed the power of foresight which recognized the resources of this region and has had the executive ability and merit to marshal and put in working order the forces of progress, development and upbuilding as manifest in journalistic and banking circles. Mr. Haas is a native product of Wabash, having been born in a house at the corner of Market and Miami streets, November 26, 1859, a son of Adam and Eliza E. (Kidd) Haas, the former a native of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, of German descent, and the latter a native of Connersville, Indiana.

Adam Haas was born in 1799 and when a boy was taken by his par¬ ents to Licking county, Ohio, where he was reared and given a common school education. He came to what is now Wabash county, Indiana, as early as 1836, and settling among the pioneers erected a home and here passed the remainder of his long and useful life. Not long after locating here he embarked in general merchandising, dealing largely in dry goods, and became prominent in his life of endeavor, following the same occupation until 1864, at which time, owing to failing health, he relinquished active work and lived practically retired until his death, August 10, 1868. Mr. Haas was an old line whig in politics and was one of the organizers of the republican party in 1856. Prior to and during the war between the North and the South he took an important part in the operation of the famous Underground Railway, the figurative appellation for a spontaneous movement in the free states - extending sometimes into the slave states themselves - to assist slaves in their efforts to escape from* bondage to freedom. He was a man of unques¬ tioned honor and prided himself in the reputation for probity which he had built up. He was extremely conservative, never taking a chance when slow conservatism was an assured success. His two predominant characteristics were his careful attention to business and his beautiful domestic relations. He loved the quietude of his home, where, sur¬ rounded by family, friends and books, he partook of his greatest pleas¬ ure. But while he was extremely conservative in handling his business transactions, he was never close in his contributions to worthy public enterprises, and his private benevolences were numerous and liberal. He was married in 1857 to Mrs. Eliza E. (Kidd) Mount, daughter of Edward and Christina Kidd and widow of Peter Mount. They became the parents of one son: Charles S., and the mother died August 7, 1903. By her first husband she was the mother of two daughters.

Charles S. Haas has spent his entire career in Wabash. He received his education in the public schools of this city, and as early as 1881 became identified with newspaper work, as a reporter on the Wabash Courier , and from that time to the present the greater part of his time and attention have been given to journalism. In August, 1883, he became city editor of the Fort Wayne Sentinel, but in December of that same year returned to Wabash as city editor of the Courier. In the spring of 1887, he assisted in the consolidation of the Plain Dealer and the Courier, the latter going out of existence as far as name was con¬ cerned. Mr. Haas became editor of the Plain Dealer, and in 1909 was made president and manager of the Plain Dealer Company, in addition to which he has continued in the position of editor. To make a perma¬ nent impression upon the public with which he has to deal requires something more than talent - it calls for positive genius, and the fact that an editor can make a deep and lasting imprint upon the public conscience, shows him to be possessed of that genius. Through Mr. Haas' efforts, the Plain Dealer has become a power throughout Wabash county, and, not strangely, reflects a great deal of his personality. In the world of finance, Mr. Haas is equally well known and his achievements have probably been as many and as important. In 1888, he was one of the incorporators of the Wabash National Bank, in which he still continues to be a stockholder. In 1902, he was one of the leading factors in the incorporation of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank, of which he became a member of the board of directors, in 1908 was elected vicepresident of that institution, and in January, 1910, was elected to the presidency of the bank to succeed Judge Shirley at the time of the latter's death. Mr. Haas is a director and treasurer of the Wabash Exchange and was president of the Carnegie Library Board from 1902 until 1910, being at present the secretary of that board. He is a mem¬ ber of the Masonic fraternity, and popular with the members of the local lodge. He has ever taken a keen interest in public matters, but his only political office has been that of alderman, he having served as a member of the Wabash City Council from 1883 to 1887.

On December 5, 1894, Mr. Haas was married to Miss Lilia M. Pyke, daughter of Charles W. and Mary B. Pyke, of an old and honored family of Port Wayne.

Wabash Cabinet Company. The prosperity of Wabash as an in¬ dustrial city, where a large proportion of the population depend upon the payrolls of the local factories for their living, owes much to the Wabash Cabinet Company, which furnishes employment to several hun¬ dred people, and now produces an output valued at over half a million dollars annually. The distribution of its goods, comprising fine cabinet woodwork and office devices, furthermore tends to increase the distinc¬ tion of Wabash as a manufacturing center.

Though the Wabash Cabinet Company is now on a most prosperous commercial basis, and in its cash benefit is a splendid institution, the striking feature of the enterprise is the remarkable struggle, now fin¬ ished, by which the concern was raised from bankruptcy and by able financial and industrial management placed upon its present secure footing. Its success has therefore been not only an interesting record in itself, but has been especially helpful in incentive and example for other similar concerns in this city, and the entire community therefore takes pride in what has been accomplished by the officers of the cabinet company, headed by its president, Thomas F. Yaughn.

The formal history of the Wabash Cabinet Company began in the year 1883, when the H. C. Underwood Manufacturing Company built a plant and began turning out a large line of wood specialties. It was a corporation of local individuals, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, but in a few years the capital was increased to fifty thousand dollars. The first president was A. M. Atkinson, with M. R. Gardner as secretary and treasurer. On April 1, 1900, the name of the company was changed to the Wabash Cabinet Company, the same officers continuing in executive management of the concern until the death of Mr. Atkinson, when he was succeeded by John A. Bruner as president. In December, 1904, the business was transferred to the creditors, and was operated in their interests until 1907. The creditors then forced a formal receivership, the Central Trust Company of Indianapolis taking charge of operations for two years. On March 20, 1909, came the sale of the business by order of the court. The plant and the business were bought and reorganized under the name of The Wabash Cabinet Com¬ pany, with Thomas F. Vaughn as president, J. D. Adams as vice presi¬ dent, Curtis McPike as second vice president, and W. H. Urschel as secretary and treasurer.

With the close of the receivership and the reorganization conies the most interesting part of the company 's history. When the business was placed in receivership its debts were in excess of $175,000, and from experience with other industries similarly involved it appeared that the holders of claims would realize only a small percentage of the total. It was about that time that Thomas F. Yaughn was employed to take the management of the plant and operate it under a creditors , committee. Then followed the receivership, when additional outlays of $25,000 were forced upon the struggling industry. The experience of Mr. Yaughn, however, demonstrated hopeful possibilities for the business, and it was a result of what he had done that reorganization was effected in 1909.

The history of the company since its reorganization was told in the Plain Dealer in its issue of April 9, 1914, which recorded the payment of the last dollar of indebtedness of the concern. It was a story of able financial administration which has an appropriate place in any history of Wabash county, and the newspaper article is herewith quoted. Dur¬ ing the reorganization and in the provisions made for paying off the indebtedness, "those persons who did not care to take the optional tenyear five percent bonds at par for their claim were paid their propor¬ tionate share from the amount received from the new company in pay¬ ment for the factory. Of the $175,000 in obligations then outstanding the holders of $160,000 elected to take the bonds and the holders of $19,000 were paid $10,450 and the debt extinguished.

"It should be said in this connection that Mr. Vaughn earnestly requested all the creditors to take the bonds and get every dollar com¬ ing to them, he expressing confidence that he would be able to pay in full in less than the full ten years. Perhaps, in addition to this, he was naturally influenced by the inconvenience of raising ten thousand dol¬ lars in cash at that time wherewith to make the adjustment with creditors -wishing to withdraw.

"But the company at last squared away for good or ill, with its mortgage of. $106,000, a distressingly thin bank balance, and with abso¬ lutely no credit rating by the commercial agencies. It was a hand-tomouth existence that the crippled corporation lived for two or three years, banks declining to make it loans and compelling it to do business badly handicapped on its slender resources. Its orders increased in vol¬ ume, its profits were carefully husbanded, bills were met as promptly as possible, and the confidence of and in the management slowly grew. The first six months' interest on the bonds was paid when due, and thenceforward there was never a default.

"On January 1, 1914, only $19,000 of the original $106,000 remained unpaid, and last Monday the final lot of $19,000 was taken up and Mr. Vaughn, with the $106,000 of cancelled bonds, went to Indianapolis, where the trust company which served as trustee of the mortgage de¬ stroyed the bonds and executed a release of the mortgage, which, turned over to Mr. Yaughn, was placed on record in the Wabash county re¬ corder's office Wednesday evening.

Mrs. W. S. Stitt

less ruin has paid every dollar it owed, has a large fund of cash and receivables and an established business among the most prosperous in the state of Indiana. The factory output last year aggregated over half a million dollars, more than three hundred persons were given steady employment, and at this time there are firm orders on the books exceeding $200,000, or enough to run the factory full-handed for sev¬ eral months, with as much more in sight. All of this was accomplished through the executive skill of Mr. Yaughn, with the able assistance of his business associates, including J. D. Adams, W. H. Urschel and Curtis McPike, and without the aid of the banks, the policy from the beginning being to scrupulously avoid going in debt, buying only as the cash de¬ mand for the finished product of the factory developed.,,

The officials elected at the reorganization of the company and above mentioned are still in their respective positions. The present capital stock is $175,000, fully paid up, and with a surplus of $78,000. The output of the plant both in quantity and in value is fully three times as much as ever before in the history of the business. About one hun¬ dred and twelve thousand feet of floor space are occupied by the machin¬ ery. the stock room and other quarters used in the business.

Aside from the practical accomplishment, what the influence of this business record will be to Wabash in the future is well told in another paragraph quoting from the article above mentioned: "The Wabash Cabinet Company thus points the way to success for existing Wabash industries and for those yet to come. Mr. Vaughn has clearly proved that energy, prudence, foresight and a genius for getting the orders will build up a flourishing factory enterprise in Wabash as well as in other cities, and there is no one in this city where such industries are so sorely needed, who will begrudge Mr. Vaughn and his associates the fruits of their labors in making The Wabash Cabinet Company the splendid monument to their ability it now is.M

Thomas F. Vaughn, president of the Wabash Cabinet Company, and whose connection with local manufacturing at Wabash began on Janu¬ ary 1, 1905, is a native of Rhode Island. When a young man he went to Chicago and practically bis entire business career has been spent in different lines of manufacturing. That he has special genius for in¬ dustrial reorganization and development needs no further proof than the above record. Mr. Vaughn is a Knights Templar Mason, also a thirtysecond degree Mason and a member of the Shrine, is president of the Wabash Exchange, is affiliated with the Elks Lodge, and is married and has three children.

Captain William S. Stitt. Nowt one of the oldest living natives of Wabash county, William S. Stitt has had a varied career in business and public affairs, won a lieutenant's commission by gallant service in the Civil war, and has taken a prominent part in the establishment and management of several public utilities in Wabash. Through the accom¬ plishments of his individual lifetime he has won an honored name in

A special honor should be paid to the name of Archibald Stitt as one of the early contractors in the construction of the old Wabash and Erie Canal through Wabash county. That work places him in a rela¬ tion of peculiar interest in the early history of this county, and the fact that from about 1840 until his death he was a resident at or near Wabash, fortifies his claim to mention among the pioneers. In many other ways he was a man of distinction, both by character and by his work. A native of county Down, Ireland, he came to the United States in 1809 when about seven or eight years of age. His parents located at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where Archibald grew up and learned the trade of shoemaker. For a time he was also employed in an iron foundry at Huntingdon. But his career was destined to occupy a much larger field and range of activities than was afforded by either of these mechanical trades. In Huntingdon he married Catherine Simpson. In 1832, leaving his family in the east, he came west to Indiana, and became one of the contractors in the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal, a waterway which was then being built as one link in a great scheme of internal improvements, only a few years later to be succeeded and rendered obsolete by the rapid progress of railway construction. His first work was in Tippecanoe county, then in Carroll, then Miami county, and finally in Wabash county. His coming to Wabash county was in 1839 or 1840, and here he became superintendent of the division from Fort Wayne to Logansport, a position which he held until 1850. In the meantime the purchase of a tract of land south of Rich Valley in Noble township gave him a still more permanent connection with Wabash county, which was ever thereafter his home. His land was situated between the canal and the river. It was originally covered with a heavy growth of walnut, hard maple, and other wood, and most of that timber was cleared away, some of it converted into rails and fire wood, but great quantities and many noble specimens of the forest were piled into heaps and burned, without regard to their future value. If those trees were standing today, they would be worth a fortune.

Archibald Stitt in 1834 brought his family to Indiana and it then consisted of his wife and one son, Alexander. After their location in this state several more children were born, four of them reaching ma¬ turity, namely: Jane, who married Thomas W. King; James E., Wil¬ liam S., and Archibald N.

Archibald Stitt was a man rather under the average size, inclined to be quick in action and in decision, was generous to a fault, and on the monument erected* to his memory after his death, a friend engraved an inscription wThich expressed one of the finest facts of his character - "A friend to the friendless. " He was a man of but ordinary educa¬ tion, so far as books were concerned, but possessed an unusual fund of good, practical sense, and had the intelligence and quickness wiiich made him a big factor in days when conditions of living required just those qualities. He was a democrat in politics up to the nomination of James Buchanan for the presidency, and thereafter adhered to the republican cause. In 1850, he was elected treasurer of Wabash county, and to discharge the duties of that office moved into the city of Wabash, and had his home there until his death. Such was his place of esteem among the citizens, that he was re-elected county treasurer, and served two terms. Soon after retiring from the treasurer's office in 1856, he bought the old Indiana House, and conducted that old hostelry as a popular center of entertainment for the public until his death. During all his life in Indiana, he was more or less engaged in contracting for bridge and road work. Archibald Stitt was an Odd Fellow, and one of the most popular men of his time. His death on October 13, 1867, was caused by sunstroke, while acting in the office of street commissioner. He was the first appointee to that position under the city government of Wabash. His wife survived him until November, 1893.

William S. Stitt was born on his father's farm in Noble township, September 5, 1843, and has thus spent three-score and ten years in Wabash county. His own recollection includes many things which were characteristic of the pioneer times in this section. From the age of seven his honje was in Wabash, and as he grew up towards manhood he had the advantages of the graded schools of the county seat. His education was supplemented after his return from the war by a com¬ mercial course in a business college at Indianapolis.

Mr. Stitt made a notable record as a soldier. His enlistment was on August 9, 1862, after the call of President Lincoln for three hundred thousand men. On the twentieth day of the same month he was mus¬ tered into service as a private in Company A of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Infantry. During the fall of 1862 his regiment was stationed in Ken¬ tucky, and at Perryville, aided in checking the junction of Kirby Smith with Bragg's army. The regiment then went to the support of Moore's Brigade at Hartsville, Tennessee, and pursued Morgan back into Ken¬ tucky, a campaign which kept the regiment off the field of Stone River until the day following the great battle. Mr. Stitt participated in the Tennessee campaign of 1863, beginning with the engagement at Hoover's Gap. Then followed the Tullahoma campaign, and crossing the Elk River, the regiment invaded the Sequatchee Valley and for two weeks was stationed on University Heights. The Brigade to which the Seventyfifth Indiana was attached then crossed the Tennessee River and the mountain range to McLamore's Cove, and continuing its march arrived in time to participate in the battle of Chickamauga. At Chickamauga Mr. Stitt was wounded in the left hip, and received two minor wounds. However, he recovered in time to participate in Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, and after the fall of that city proceeded with the great general on his famous march to the sea, thence up through the Carolinas, and finally in the Grand Review of the victorious army at Washington. At Richmond, Virginia, Lieutenant Stitt was one of four officers detailed to take charge of the sick and deliver them at Alexandria, Virginia, and also to procure clothing by requisition from the war department for the four divisions of the Fourteenth Army Corps. As a matter of fact, these requisitions were not honored by the department, owing to a special order that Sherman's army should pass through the Grand Review in the same habiliments that had been worn to the nation's capital.

The regiment in which Mr. Stitt served during the war participated in thirty-four different engagements, and Mr. Stitt was in all of them with one exception, Missionary Ridge, which battle was fought while he was home on a leave of absence caused by his wound received at Chickamauga. For meritorious services on the Chickamauga battlefield, Mr. Stitt was commissioned second lieutenant, and at Ringgold, Georgia, on April 26, 1864, was advanced to first lieutenant to succeed to the place made vacant by the promotion of the former lieutenant to the captaincy of the company.

The close of Mr. Stitt's army career came with his honorable dis¬ charge June 9, 1865. Such had been the hardship and the continuous labor of nearly three years as a soldier, that it required a year and a half for him to get completely restored to health. The first regular business in which he engaged after the war was the grocery trade, and he continued in that line for nine years. Since then his career has been largely taken up with public affairs, or with activities in semi-public enterprises. A short time before he left the grocery business he was elected to the office of city auditor, and after serving the regular term of four years he was re-elected another similar term. In 1884 Mr. Stitt was elected a member of the city council and his two years with that body were at an important period of the city's municipal develop¬ ment.

Mr. Stitt was one of the organizers of the company which established the Wabash City Water Works. He was the first secretary of the cor¬ poration, and for thirteen and a half years continued as superintendent and manager of the plant and the business. Up to 1904 he was identified with the plumbing and heating business in Wabash, and then for three years was employed in contracting. In 1898 Mr. Stitt assumed his duties as secretary of the Home Telephone Company. After the recon¬ struction of the system and the local plant in 1906-07, he was made general manager, and has since held the responsible positions of secre¬ tary and manager. He also served six years, from August 1, 1905, to August 1, 1911, on the board of trustees for the school City of Wabash.

On September 26, 1867, Mr. William S. Stitt married Miss Mary A. Lutz, daughter of Reuben and Anna Major Lutz. She was born in Preble county, Ohio, and was one of a family of eight children. Mr. and Mrs. Stitt are the parents of three children : Eva, widow of Henry C. Pettit; Thomas L., a lawyer of Chicago; and Marie, wife of Stuart C. Cowgill. There are also three grandchildren; Miss Mary Pettit, Nancie Ann Cowgill and William Cary Cowgill. Mr. Stitt has mem¬ bership in the Grand Army Post, and he and his wife are communi¬ cants of the Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as an elder.

John W. Domer. One of the most successful business men in Wabash county is John W. Domer, vice-president of the Lawrence Na¬ tional Bank at North Manchester, while his son is a successful physician in the city of Wabash.

John W. Domer was born near Wawaka, Indiana, October 19, 1851, a son of George and Caroline (Steinbarger) Domer, natives respectively of Ohio and New York. Mr. Domer during his boyhood attended the common schools, and when about twenty years of age started out in life for himself, his first experience and training being as clerk in a store. From Indiana he went west to Missouri, located on farm lands, and remained there until driven out by severe droughts and attacks of grasshoppers, and that disastrous experience caused him to return to his native state. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Domer moved to North Manchester, and has thus been identified with Wabash county for forty years. His early work at North Manchester was teaming in the village and con¬ ducting a farm nearby. From 1882 to 1890 the marble establishment in that village was conducted under his management, but in 1890 his attention was directed to the real estate and insurance business. When the city decided to instal local water works in 1893, Mr. Domer and Dr. Shafer secured the contract to tap all the mains, and for a time did practically all the plumbing. It was in 1895 that he became interested in the Lawrence National Bank, acquiring with Mr. J. M. Curtner of Wabash the Lawrence & Mills interests, and soon afterwards Mr. Curtner became president and Mr. Domer vice-president and general manager of the institution. Since then, 1896, the deposits of the bank have been inincreased from forty-eight thousand dollars to nearly four hundred thou¬ sand dollars, which fact alone attests the capability of the new manage¬ ment. Besides his duties as a banker Mr. Domer has accumulated some city property at North Manchester and in Chicago, and is one of the organizers and a director of the New Union Trust Company at North Manchester.

A Republican in politics, he has taken an interest in public affairs and has served as a member of the city council and on the school board. Aside from his business he has found time to cultivate the social side of life and is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. In 1871 John W. Domer married Miss Dora Harter, daughter of Eli Harter, a pioneer of Wabash county. To their marriage were born two children : Walter A. and Emma, both living.

Walter A. Domer, M. D. The medical profession of the city of Wabash has one of its ablest representatives in Dr. Walter A. Domer, who has practiced in that city for the past twelve years. Dr. Domer is a man of broad experience, and being well equipped professionally has acquired success and high standing in a community in which most of his life has been spent.

Though Wabash county has been his home nearly all his life, Dr. Domer was bom in Joplin, Missouri, November 10, 1872. His father, John W. Domer, is now living in North Manchester. The maiden name of his mother was Dora Harter, whose people were among the earliest pioneers of Wabash county. When Walter A. Domer was about one year of age his parents returned to Wabash county, and he grew up to manhood at North Manchester. His early experiences in that locality were chiefly attending public school and clerking in a store. His early pursuits were all along the lines of commercial life, and as part of his preparation for that work he completed a course at the Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1897, having decided to leave mercantile affairs and make the practice of medicine his voca¬ tion, he matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago. From that old and substantial institution he was graduated M. D. in 1901. For eighteen months, beginning in his senior year he was deputy county physician of Chicago, having charge of one of the districts into which the city was then divided, his duties being to look after pauper and emergency cases. Also during his senior year in college he was honored with appointment as prosector for Dr. William T. Eckley, professor of anatomy in The College of Physicians and Surgeons and at the same time he assisted Dr. F. R. Sherwood who had charge of the Chair of Surgery at the Chicago Clinical School. In June, 1901, Dr. Domer returned to his home county, and began practice in the City of Wabash, where he has since become securely established in the vocation which he has chosen for his life 's work. Dr. Dom'er is a member and at this writing is president of the Wabash County Medical Society, belongs to the Indiana State Medical Associa¬ tion and the American Medical Association. While at Chicago in college he was president of the Beta chapter of the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity for the school year, 1900-01, and at the meeting of the Grand Chapter of that organization in Chicago, July 5, 1899, he was elected grand president, serving as such for two years and being the first grand president of the Grand Chapter. The doctor has other fraternal affilia¬ tions with the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, his politics is republican, and in religion he worships with the Presbyterian. On October 30, 1901, Dr. Domer married Miss May Oliver of Chicago.

Daniel Show alter has been connected with politics only since 1910r yet already he is regarded as one of the most influential republicans in Wabash county, where he is the incumbent of the office of county au¬ ditor. A native son of this county, he has risen from humble surround¬ ings and poor financial circumstances, and through unaided individual effort has worked his way to independence in business and distinction in the political arena. He was born on his father's farm in Paw Paw township, then a part of Noble township, Wabash county, Indiana, April 14, 1858, and is a son of Daniel H. and Magdalene (Winger) Showalter, natives of the Old Dominion State.

planted into America was in Ireland, and the founders of the name on this side of the Atlantic were the grandparents of Elizabeth Kennedy. Elizabeth Kennedy's father took part as a soldier in the war of 1812. Richard G. Brooks died in 1883, while his widow is still living at the age of seventy-two.

David F. Brooks was reared to manhood in his native state, and until twelve years of age attended the local school. For several years after that he was given the advantages of a Presbyterian Academy near Fishersville. In the winter prior to his eighteenth birthday, he taught his first term of district school, and in 1885, at the age of nineteen, came west to Hartford City, Indiana, where his oldest brother was then living. Two years were spent in work at sawmilling and also in attendance at school, after which he was employed in keeping a set of books for a produce firm at Warren. With increasing confidence and credit he went into merchandising on his own account. However, from his twen¬ tieth birthday or even earlier, he had been studying law, as opportunity allowed and in spite of considerable success in commercial lines, he always had his mind set on the profession as the goal of his ambition. His studies were continued intermittently until the fall of 1893, when he entered the law school of the Northern Indiana University of Val¬ paraiso, and in June, 1895, was graduated there with his degree as Bachelor of Laws, being admitted to the bar at the time. In the month of October in the same year, he located for practice at Wabash, and has kept up his share of work in the profession, and enjoyed a satisfying degree of success. Incidentally and along with the work of a lawyer he has identified himself with many of the local institutions.

In politics Mr. Brooks has always been a republican. His fraternal associations are with the Royal Arch Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On April 6, 1892, occurred his marriage with Mrs. Anna Cale, of Warren, Indiana. They are the parents of seven children as follows: Lalla, Mrs. Lutz Rettig; Vada; Everett; Harry; Raymond; Virginia and Mary.

Lorin W. Smith, M. D. Both professional success and influential activity as a citizen and business man have marked the career of Dr. Smith in Wabash, where he has been a resident and a well known physi¬ cian and surgeon for upwards of twenty years. While a general prac¬ titioner he has become recognized for his special skill in surgery, and few men of the profession in Wabash county have accomplished more in their chosen vocation than Dr. Smith.

Until locating in Wabash county, his home was in Pennsylvania, and the family has been identified with that state for several generations. Dr. Smith was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1865. One of three children, he was the only son of Henry Clay and Harriet (Howe) Smith. Henry Clay Smith, the youngest of a family of seven¬ teen children, was born in Venango county, and had a long and varied career of usefulness. In August, 1861, he enlisted as a soldier in Com¬ pany E of the Seventy-Eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, and gave the service of a faithful and efficient soldier until the close of the war. About that time he began an industrious study of medicine, and in 1868 was graduated from Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, after which he practiced medicine in both Venango and Butler counties, of Pennsylvania, and probably for some time was located at Franklin. Eventually his career was shifted to an entirely different calling, but still in the field of great usefulness to his fellow men. Converted to Christianity in the Methodist church he accepted the inner call, resigned his practice as a physician, was ordained to the ministry, and from that time until the end of his life was active and diligent in the varied duties of the ministry of Methodist church. His labors naturally took him to many different localities, and he died while still in the harness, at Hubbard, Ohio, July 1, 1878. His widow survives him and now has her home in Franklin, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lorin W. Smith lived with his parents in their various homes until about fourteen years of age, and in the intervals of his attendance at the grade and high schools at Franklin principally, he found employment and the means of earning a livelihood in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania. After his gradua¬ tion from the Franklin high school in 1884, his previous experience led him to become interested in the production and utilization of natural gas, and in that connection he installed the gas plant at the borough of Mercer, Pennsylvania, and took the active superintendency of the plant. From those duties he turned his attention to the responsibilities imposed upon him by his appointment as governor of the state school for orphans of old soldiers located at Mercer. He continued to discharge the duties of that office at Mercer until 1890. In the meantime he had taken up the study of medicine, and leaving Mercer entered the medical depart¬ ment of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, where he was graduated M. D. in 1893. His first two years as an active practitioner were spent in Converse, Indiana, and from there he came to Wabash, and quickly gained recognition as an able young physician and surgeon, and was accorded a liberal share of local surgery.

Dr. Smith has always been a progressive physician, and his success has been in no small degree due to the fact that he has practiced a policy of taking post-graduate work about every two years. In the line of his profession he has membership in the Wabash county, the District, the Tri-State Medical Societies, and the State and American Medical Association.

Dr. Smith is a Republican in politics, and has fraternal affiliations with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Foresters, and his church is the. Methodist. On September 20, 1889, Dr. Smith married Miss Alice Carmichael, of Sandy Lake, Penn¬ sylvania. They are the parents of one son, Lorin William, who is now a student in the Purdue University.

George Todd was born March 24, 1853, in Franklin county, Indiana, but his parents moved to Wabash county in 1855, and he grew up and during most of his years has been identified with this comity. His parents were John and Eleanor B. Todd. His father was a farmer and stock shipper and erected one of the first brick houses in the country district of Wabash county. In the early days he bought and sold grain on the old Wabash and Erie canal. He possessed the typical character and virtues of his Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his wife was of French descent. George Todd was one of two children, and his brother Frank died at the age of twenty-one years.

As a boy he early learned the principle of self-support, and his education was limited to the common schools and three months at the Terre Haute Commercial College, but most of his time was taken up with farm work. At the age of twenty years, in April 1873, he had his first mercantile experience in a hardware store at Lagro, a place which then offered unusual opportunities for the hardware and imple¬ ment business. Previous to this he had assisted in loading a large number of boats along the Wabash and Erie canal with wheat and other grain, and the old canal was for some time closely associated with his business activities. He still owns an old warehouse on the canal bank, with its grain bins in their original condition. All his life he has been a hard worker and those famliar with his career say that he has never been daunted by misfortune and has always returned more determined than ever to his work after each reverse. In 1884, having sold out his hardware business at Lagro, Mr. Todd moved to Logansport, and for several years was engaged in business with a spoke and bending fac¬ tory. This enterprise he sold at Logansport in 1888, returned to Lagro. and once more engaged in the hardware trade at the old stand. Selling his store in 1895, the following five years were spent in the shoe manufacturing business at Wabash, but in 1898 he returned to Lagro and began buying and selling stock. In 1900 he once more took up the hardware and implement business with F. J. Todd, a son, under the name of Todd & Son. Since retiring from the hardware trade in 1906 Mr. George Todd has been engaged in general contracting and farming, and in the buying and selling of live stock. Besides the chief lines already mentioned, he has been identified with several other busi¬ ness concerns, although not as an active manager. During his business career he has made and lost several small fortunes, and the age of threescore finds him still young in action and ambition and constantly employing his time at some useful wTork. He is now the senior member of the contracting firm of Todd & Howell.

Attention to business has not prevented him from participation in local public affairs, and from 1880 to 1884 he was trustee of Lagro township. He was a worker in the republican ranks up to two years ago, and still holds to the views of that old party. Since 1908 he has been affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On December 28, 1875, when twenty- two years of age and about at the beginning of his business career as a Lagro merchant, Mr. Todd married Adda Tiller. Their children are as follows: Frank James Todd, born September 22, 1876, and now located at Nome, Alaska; Walter Glenn Todd, born October 20, 1878, and whose career is sketched in this volume; Bertha Emma Todd, born September 15, 1880; and Ethel Nora Todd, born June 25, 1884, a teacher who has been engaged in educational work in the 'Kingdom of Japan since August, 1913.

Walter Glenn Todd. A son of George and Adda Todd, whose career occupies a prominent place in Wabash county history, Walter Glenn Todd has for thirteen years been an active member of the County bar, and has already done much to prove his ability and establish a foundation for a large and successful career.

Walter Glenn Todd was born October 20, 1878, at Lagro, Indiana, and was reared and educated in that locality. In 1895 he graduated from the Largo high school, being then seventeen years of age, and in the fall of the same year matriculated at Wabash College, Crawfordsville. He remained a student of that dignified and valuable old institute of learning until he graduated in June, 1900, with degree A. B. In the same month of his graduation he took up the study of law in the office of A. H. Plummer, the present judge of his judicial district, and was ad¬ mitted to the bar at the March term of court in 1901. From that time until September, 1902, he continued his studies and also practiced in the office with Judge Plummer. In September, 1902, Judge Plummer took him into partnership under the name of Plummer and Todd, but on October 22nd of the same year when Judge Plummer assumed his duties as Judge of the Circuit the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Todd then continued alone in practice until April 1, 1909, and in the mean¬ time from 1905 to 1908 had served as county attorney. From April 1, 1909, to April 1, 1913, Mr. Todd was associated in practice with Joseph W. Murphy, but from that date up to the 1st of June, 1914, followed his profession alone. On the first day of June, 1914, he formed a partner¬ ship with Franklin W. Plummer, son of Judge A. H. Plummer, and with whom he is now engaged in the practice of law, under the firm name of Todd & Plummer.

Mr. Todd is a republican, quite active and influential in local poli¬ tics, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. On October 2, 1906, he married Miss Eda B. Smith, of Union City, Indiana.

Solomon Signs and Lewis Signs. There are many older residents of Wabash county who well recall the industrious citizen and kindly friend and neighbor, Solomon Signs, who came to Wabash county and settled on a farm in Pleasant township in 1848. When he was finally called from the scenes of earth he had reached the venerable age of eightyfour years, and in that time had watched the growth of the village of North Manchester for many years, and had always taken his share of community responsibility. The generation following him, his son Lewis

Signs, has for many years been closely identified with commercial affairs -at North Manchester, and is now well known as secretary and general manager of the Eel River Telephone Company. The late Solomon Signs was a native of the State of Pennsylvania, born in March, 1810. His boyhood days were spent at home assisting his father and in attending the district schools. When quite young in years he started out to earn his own way, and practically his entire career was devoted to farming stock raising. He lived for a number* of years in Ohio, where he married Miss Mary Ann Lawrence, of that state. Their family of chil¬ dren are named as follows: David, deceased; Catherine, deceased; Peter; Mahlon, deceased; Wesley; Franklin, deceased; Lewis; Eudoci&; and Myron, deceased. It was in the year 1848 that the family joined the pioneers of Wabash county, where the name has been promi¬ nently identified with public and private affairs of importance ever since. Solomon Signs established his home in Pleasant township, buying eighty acres of land, and later moving to a farm between Wabash and Roann. In the course of his active farming life he made one other change, when he bought a quarter section of land on the Wabash road, near North Manchester, and there continued his successful supervision of farm and stock until ready to retire from active cares of life. His death occurred in 1894, and his place thus left vacant is such as was filled by a good man and valuable citizen. His wife had preceded him in death, passing away in 1878. Both are buried in Roann. Although a republican in politics, Solomon Signs never held office, preferring to confine his attention to the inconspicuous duties which come to every man in private life, and give him full opportunity for unselfish deeds.

Lewis Signs, son of Solomon and Mary Ann (Lawrence) Signs, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, December 2, 1846. He was thus only two years of age when the family moved to Wabash county, and all his -conscious years of youth and boyhood were spent in Pleasant township, where he attended the public schools, such as were maintained there during the fifties and early sixties, and was also a student of the high school at Silver Lake. His employment outside of school hours was furnished in abundance at the home farm, and having shown consider¬ able aptitude as a student he spent the winter months of 1865-66-67-68 in teaching in Pleasant township and Steward township of Kosciusko -county. In 1867 Mr. Signs identified himself with the little commun¬ ity of North Manchester. The first twelve years were spent as clerk in the general store of George Lawrence. Then for the succeeding twenty years he was a partner in the business. Having given a long and faithful service in merchandising annals to the people of that community for a period of thirty-one years, he disposed of his interests, and in 1898 entered upon his public duties as postmaster of the village. He resigned that office at the end of three years in order to accept the place of secretary and general manager for the Eel River Telephone Company. Under his energetic management this company has vastly increased and improved its service, and now furnishes the best of telephone facilities to a large and ever increasing patronage about North Manchester. An- other business relation which did him great credit personally and is grate¬ fully remembered by the people of this community, was his appointment as trustee in bankruptcy by the Creditors of the Bank of North Man¬ chester, when it closed its doors in 1894. Due to his careful handling of the tangled skein of that business, all depositors were given a settle¬ ment of about eighty-five cents on the dollar.

As a republican in politics Mr. Signs has always taken an active interest in public affairs, but has thus far steadfastly refused any official honors. In 1876 he married Miss Maria Simpson, a daughter of Richard Simpson, of Wabash county. Their three children died unnamed in in¬ fancy. Mr. Signs is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, having his membership in the lodge at North Manchester.

Allen Kitson and Frank S. Kitson, M. D. From about the year 1847 Wabash county has been the home and center of activities for the Kitson family. Daniel Kitson was one of the first lawyers to locate in Wabash county. Allen Kitson, of the next generation, was a soldier and for many years has been one of the honored residents of the city of North Manchester. In the third generation is Dr. Frank S. Kitsonr who for nearly twenty years of successful professional work at North Manchester, has dignified his calling and has won a well merited recog¬ nition among the able members of the Wabash County Medical Fraternity.

Allen Kitson was born in Preble county, Ohio, on August 26, 1842, a son of Daniel and Susan (Knoff) Kitson. When he was about five years of age the family all came to Wabash county, locating in Chester township. Daniel Kitson was a man of varied activities, and besides being one of the first lawyers in the township, he served in various town¬ ship offices, and as constable and justice of the peace and had a promi¬ nent part in republican politics and community affairs. In November, 1872, he contracted a severe cold while on his way to the polls, and died shortly afterwards. His widow survived him until 1888, and both now rest in the cemetery at North Manchester.

' Allen Kitson grew up in Chester township, and until he was about twenty-five years of age most of his time was spent at home in attend¬ ing school and in assisting his father. He was nineteen years old when the war broke out, and he volunteered and went to the front, where he made a record of faithful performance of duty, and remained until his. honorable discharge. On returning to Wabash county he devoted his ef¬ forts in the line of farming, but since the fall of 1870 has had Ifis home in North Manchester, and is now living retired from the active cares of life. In August, 1869, Allen Kitson married Miss Gabrielle Parker^ a daughter of Jacob and Franey Parker. The children born to their mar¬ riage are given record as follows: Frank S., Ernest and Ina, both of whom died in infancy; and Amy, now deceased, who married Gilford Blickenstaff, and had one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, bom in August, 1911. Mrs. Allen Kitson, the mother, died in March, 1908, and is buried in North Manchester.

Dr. Frank S. Kitson, who since graduating from medical college has engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery at North Manchester, was born in Chester township, June 20, 1870. His home has always been in Wabash county. Early in life he decided to take up the study and practice of medicine, and arranged all his work and plans with that object in view. After attending the local grade and high schools he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, and was grad¬ uated M. D., May 22, 1895. Returning at once to his old home in North Manchester he began practice with Dr. M. 0. Lower, a life-long friend. Two years later their partnership was dissolved, and since then Dr. Kitson has been alone. He is a member of the Wabash County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical State Society, the Eleventh Indiana Coun¬ selor District Society, and the American Medical Association. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic fraternity, including the Blue Lodge and Chapter at North Manchester, the Council and Commandery at Wabash, and the Scottish Rite Consistory and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Wayne. He also belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, and with his wife worships in the Methodist faith.

On June 3, 1896, Dr. Kitson married Miss Helen Swart Fuller, a daughter of G. E. and Martha Fuller, of Waukesha, Wisconsin. They are the parents of one son, Lower Fuller Kitson, who was bom May 1, 1897.

James Wilson, M. D. During nearly a quarter of a century Dr. James Wilson has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Wabash, and his long and faithful devotion to his calling, his strict adherence to the ethics thereof and his recognized skill have given him a high posi¬ tion among the foremost members of his profession in this part of the state. It is not alone in professional lines, however, that Dr. Wilson has attained distinction, for the signal services he has rendered his native city in exalted public position have won him the unqualified confidence of his fellow-citizens and as chief executive of the municipality he has been able to inaugurate many beneficial and lasting reforms. He was born in Wabash, Indiana, November 15, 1865, and is a son of William H. Wilson.

The father of Dr. Wilson was born in Rush county, Indiana, in 1840, and was a lad of two years when he came to Wabash with his parents, James and Elizabeth (Ambers) Wilson. The elder James Wilson joined the great throng of gold seekers who went to the Golden State in 1849, making the trip around the Horn, and upon his return to Indiana served in the capacity of constable for some years, although he died at a comparatively early age. William H. Wilson was a man of wide prac¬ tical information, although he was granted but meagre educational ad¬ vantages in his youth. During the early days he carried mail between Huntington and Wabash, and subsequently served as a clerk in various general stores and at one time was the proprietor of a meat market. He was a man of decided views, was an influential factor in the life of the community in which he lived, and earnestly endeavored to make a success of every undertaking in which he was engaged. At the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his services to the Union and became a mem¬ ber of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant, and his service was marked by the utmost bravery and faithfulness to duty. In later years he was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and likewise took an interest in the welfare of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he was identified for a long period. A democrat in his political views, he served efficiently for three years as postmaster of Wabash under President Cleveland's first administration. Mr. Wilson married Margaret Mountz, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1840, and who is still living. They became the parents of three children : Anna, who is the wife of Harry B. Clark; Elizabeth, who is now Mrs. John Whisler; and James. The father of these children passed to his final rest September 3, 1911.

James Wilson was reared to manhood in Wabash, and has always made this city his home. His early education was secured in the public schools, and in 1885 he was graduated from high school and then for one year was a student at DePauw University. Succeeding this he spent two years at the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, Michi¬ gan, there studying chemistry, and matriculated at Bellevue Medical College, New York, in 1888, being graduated from that institution in March, 1890. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in his native city, and here he has built up an excellent business and gained a high place in the profession of which he is a master. During the Spanish- American War he became assistant surgeon of the 161st Regi¬ ment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving ten months, the greater part of which time was passed in Cuba. Like his father, Dr. Wilson is a stalwart democrat, and was elected mayor of Wabash in November, 1909, and reelected in November, 1913. He is rendering his fellow-townsmen excellent services as chief executive and his administration has been marked by prosperous conditions and beneficial reforms. He is widely known in fraternal circles, being a Thirty-second Degree and Knight Templar Mason, a Shriner, an Elk, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and has numerous friends in all of these orders. He also holds membership in the various societies of his profession.

On May 31, 1894, Dr. Wilson was married to Miss Cora F. Ebbinghouse, of Wabash, and they are the parents of four children: Eloise, Alice,' William A. and Frances. Mrs. Wilson belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.

Peter King. In the early years of Wabash county, probably no name had a greater significance in business and industrial affairs than that of Peter King. If for no other reason, he should be remembered in history for the mills which he built along the Wabash valley in this county, all of which did a good service *to the people of the time, and one of which remained a landmark until recently. While a man of rather conspicuous ability and success, it was not his nature to seek prominence in a public way, and he chiefly contributed to the making of

Peter King was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1805, was reared in that locality, and when a youth learned the milling business at York Haven, near his birthplace. Soon afterward he moved to John¬ son's Corners in Summit county, Ohio, where he was engaged to operate a flouring mill on the shares. There he met and in 1830 married Eliza¬ beth Boyer. His next removal took him to Seville in Medina county, where he built and managed a mill.

With his wife and three children (Mary Ann, George N. and Thomas Wellman), he moved to Indiana in August, 1842. His object was to secure land at a less cost than it could be had then in northeastern Ohio. The village of Wabash was his first location, but later he moved out to the farm he had bought near town. The four hundred and twenty acres acquired by him in this vicinity cost him on the average about four dollars an acre. Subsequently his home was returned to Wabash, and that city was practically his place of residence throughout the rest of his life.

On the Mississinewa river near Vernon he bought a site at which he erected about 1849 a mill which was under his direct management sev¬ eral years. Its machinery continued grinding for a long time, and its framework stood the shock of many years, a venerable landmark, until destroyed by the great flood of March, 1913. While milling was his primary calling, Peter King was one of the ablest business men of his time. He operated extensively in the buying of wheat, which he shipped over canal and railroad to the east. He was also one of the men who made the pork-packing industry valuable before the war. For the time his transactions were on a large scale, and in a good sense of the term he was a man of affairs.

In 1858 he returned to his first vocation, and built at Wabash a steam flouring mill, which began operations in 1859. In 1861, with William Whiteside as partner, this mill was converted into a furniture factory. Two years later Mr. King disposed of his interest in the busi¬ ness, and bought a mill at North Manchester on the Eel river, spend¬ ing about two and a half years in the operation of that plant. With James McCrea, he later bought the water mill, on the old canal, at Wabash, and that was practically the last enterprise to which he gave his active attention. At the end of about eight years he retired, and lived in the quiet of his home until his death in August, 1891. His wife had passed away in September, 1890, after a happy companionship of sixty years. After they came to Indiana one other son was born to them, Allen W. King.

Edson D. Pearson, M. D. For the past fourteen years a practic¬ ing physician at Wabash, Dr. Pearson represents the homeopathic school in this county, and has practiced with continuing success since he returned from medical college to the locality in which he was bom and reared. The Pearson family and its connections have helped to make

He was born about two miles west of Wabash, on his father's farm, on the old Mill Creek Pike, February 28, 1871. He is one of three chil¬ dren, all of whom are still living, born to Ephraim and Alwilda (Hutch¬ ens-) Pearson. His grandfather was William Pearson and his great¬ grandfather was Powell Pearson, who was born in South Carolina, of English parentage. For many generations the Pearsons were active in the Quaker faith, but the doctor's grandfather, having married* outside the pale of the church and having refused to express contrition for his act as required by the church authorities was deprived of his religious connections, and thus broke the continuity of the family adherents in that sect. The Hutchens family were among the pioneers of Wabash county, and also of English ancestry. Jesse Hutchens and his son Daniel came to Wabash county from Ohio, and located on land where the city of South Wabash now stands. Two owners had preceded them in the ownership of that property, which is now very valuable and the site for many homes and industries. The Pearsons were in Wabash county when the entire region was a wilderness and Grandfather William Pear¬ son built and operated one of the early vertical sawmills on Mill Creek, an institution which was well known in its day, and was located five miles west of the city of Wabash.

Dr. Edson D. Pearson has always made Wabash county his home. He was graduated from the south Wabash high school, and subsequently for two terms attended the University of Indiana. Like many others in professional life, he entered upon his present vocation through the avenue of school teaching, and during and after his college career was a teacher for four terms. During the last term he taught school, he had begun the study of medicine with Dr. J. W. G. Stewart, after which he entered the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, from which he graduated in 1889. He then returned to Wabash county and began practice of medicine in the county seat, and in a few years had gained a practice of very practical proportions. Dr. Pearson has membership in the State and American Institutes of Homeopathy. In politics he is a Republican, and he and his wife worship in the Methodist Episcopal church. His marriage occurred September 7, 1898, when Miss Blanche Jones became his wife. Their four children are: Dorwin, William, James and Martha.

Hon. James Dicken Conner. Both as a lawyer and as a jurist, James D. Conner, who so ably occupied the bench of the Twenty-seventh Indiana Judicial Circuit for six years from 1884, made a record which entitles him not only to a foremost distinction in his home county, but also among the notable figures in the Indiana Bar, and at the same time he was not without distinction of an even broader significance. He was a member of the pioneer Wabash bar, belonging to that group of early attorneys who composed the local bar, beginning with the decade of the

James Dicken Conner was born near Connersville, Payette county, Indiana, July 11, 1819, and died at his home in Wabash January 28, 1909, aged nearly 90 years. His father, Daniel Conner, a Kentuckian by birth, and of English ancestry, came to Indiana, where there were very few white settlements within the borders of the territory, and was of that hardy type of pioneers who composed the vanguard of civilization and by. their dauntless resolution and strength of body and character cleared the path for later generations. He located on an unbroken tract of land not far from the seat of justice of Fayette county, and there he lived until death came to him after a long and useful life.

While a farmer by occupation, Daniel Conner early experienced reli¬ gion, and for a number of years was minister for the local Baptist con¬ gregation. When a young man he married Elizabeth Dicken, a native of Virginia, and a descendant of Scottish ancestors.

James Dicken Conner was reared to hard work on his father's farm, and learned the lessons of self-reliance among the first in the book of life 'a instructions. When it is remembered that his birth occurred only three years after Indiana's admission to the union, it is easy to understand that his youth was spent in an altogether pioneer environment, and his advantages had none of the breadth of culture afforded to the boys of modern times. Not content, however, with the education afforded by the district schools of his neighborhood, he obtained a knowledge of the higher branches of learning at a seminary in Connersville, and for two years was himself a teacher during the winters, the summer months being devoted to the labors of the old homestead. The ambition to become a lawyer, once fixed in his mind, never deserted him and kept inspired for all the difficulties wlpch he had to meet and overcome before gaining his goal. He became a student in the office of Hon. Caleb B. Smith, who afterwards became secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President Lincoln. After an examination as to his fitness and qualification he was admitted to the bar in 1840.

In October of that year Judge Conner came to Wabash, and started the practice of his chosen calling, in a town that was still on the frontier, though deriving great commercial advantage from its position on the canal, yet having a population of only about six hundred inhabitants, while the surrounding country was very sparsely settled. Mr. Conner had that inestimable faculty of being able to grow in power and resources along with his community, and by the time he had been in Wabash ten years, he was recognized as the foremost lawyer of the county War. He also took rank among the leading men in public life in the state, and not only was one of the organizers of the republican party in Indiana, but was sent as a delegate to the national convention at Philadelphia, in 1856, when John C. Fremont was nominated as the first republican stand¬ ard bearer in a presidential campaign. It was in the campaign of the same year that Mr. Conner was nominated for representative to the legislature and elected. In 1859 he was elected to the state senate as joint senator from Wabash and Kosciusko counties. By appointment of Governor Morton, he was a member of the committee that met President-Elect Lincoln at the state line and that welcomed the latter to Indianapolis, when Mr. Lincoln was on his way to the nation's capital to take the oath of office as president. Later President Lincoln offered to Mr. Conner the unsolicited appointment of Judge of the United States District Court of Nebraska territory, a position which he declined owing to other personal matters, interfering with the performance of his duties as judge.

Judge Conner practiced law continuously and with splendid success at Wabash from 1840 until 1884, and in that year was elected judge of the twenty-seventh judicial district composed of Wabash and Miami counties. During his six years on the bench he drew from his profound experience as a lawyer, and as a public man, the wisdom and impartial attitude which gave distinguished dignity to his service as a judge, and it has been well said that as a lawyer and as a jurist Judge Conner never had a superior in Wabash county. Judge Conner was reared a Baptist, but in his later life was a communicant of the Presbyterian church. He was broad and charitable in his views on all matters, and was a man of unassailable character.

On October 2, 1842, he married Julia A. Hanna, and their marriage linked in one home life the foremost member of the bar and the daughter of Col. Hugh Hanna, whose name will always have a conspicuous place in the history of Wabash county as the founder of the city of Wabash. The children born to Judge and Mrs. Conner were : Ovid W., Horatio H., James D., and Rosalind. Mrs. Conner died October 16, 1898, after a married life of over half a century.

James D. Conner, Jr. The name Conner has been continuous on the roll of membership in the Wabash county bar since 1840, and for a number of years the late Judge J. D. Conner and his son were both practicing in Wabash and in partnership. Mr. Conner, Jr., who began practice here in 1876, has made a noteworthy reputation not only in the law, but in the more general sphere of affairs. To hundreds of stockmen throughout the country his name is more familiar as an official of the American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses than as a lawyer.

James D. Conner, Jr., was bom in the city of Wabash October 8, 1853. He was a member of the second class and was the first boy to graduate from the Wabash high school after the schools of the city were graded in 1873. From high school he entered that old center of culture for young men of Indiana, Wabash College at Crawfordsville, where he was graduated in 1876. For a number of years he had pursued his read¬ ings in the law under the direction of his father, and in 1876 not only obtained a scholastic degree from old Wabash College, but passed the examinations and was admitted to the bar. That year has a prominent place in Mr. Conner's biography, since on December 19, he was united

Mr. Conner after having been admitted to the bar began to practice in partnership with his father, and that relationship continued until the latter's election to the bench of the circuit court. Since then for nearly thirty years he has practiced alone, and has enjoyed many of the better distinctions and rewards of the successful lawyer.

Since early manhood Mr. Conner, as was his father before him, has been interested in farm life and its kindred interests. His excursions into agriculture have been not particularly for profit, but as a result of an inherent love for man 's first and greatest industry. While Mr. Con¬ ner might disclaim any achievement as a practical farmer, his interest in the subject has always been keen, and for the past quarter of a cen¬ tury his name has been familiar to stockmen, especially among the breeders and owners of cattle and Belgian horses. In 1886 Mr. Conner had among his clients the Wabash Importing Company, a firm which imported pure bred Belgian draft horses to Wabash county. Mr. Con¬ ner was the first man to realize the need of and to take steps to protect an organization for the protection of the American public in buying and handling horses of the Belgian breed. In accordance with a well con¬ sidered plan in 1887 he organized and incorporated The American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses. The object and the work of this association need not be set forth in detail, except to say that it is the only association in the United States that registers Belgian draft horses and is so recognized by both the govern¬ ments of Belgian and of the United States, and no registry association in the world stands higher. Mr. Conner was elected secretary and treas¬ urer of the association and has filled that office ever since its organiza¬ tion. The association has done a very valuable work, and probably every owner of a Belgian horse in America is familiar wTith the name of Mr. Conner.

In connection with his work as an attorney and as a stockman he has been interested in various local and benevolent institutions. He was the prime mover in the Wabash County Old Settlers Association, of which he was president for a number of years, and assisted in organiz¬ ing the Wabash County Historical Society, of which he is the president. Mr. Conner is a director in the Citizens Savings & Trust Company. Fraternally his relations are with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a re¬ publican and has always been active in politics and is at this time presi¬ dent of the Lincoln League of Indiana. His church is the Presbyterian. Mrs. Conner, who died March 1, 1910, left two daughters: Annie, Mrs. Howard C. Jones; and Julia.

Gilbert M. LaSalle, M. D. For the past nineteen years Dr. La¬ Salle has been successfully engaged in practice of medicine at Wabash, and has represented the thorough ability and best personal quality of his profession. Both as a physician and surgeon, he has enjoyed a practice that has absorbed all his time and energy, and through his work has contributed his most important sendees to the civic welfare and advancement of his home city.

The LaSalle family is of French ancestry, established in America, during the colonial era. When the westward movement had carried civilization well into the Mississippi valley, Grandfather Elizur La¬ Salle moved his family and possessions to Wabash county, Indiana, when all this section was still in the wilderness, and he was one of those hardy pioneers who effected a reclamation of the land from the domain of savage and wild beasts. The parents of Dr. LaSalle were Elizur and America (Corey) LaSalle.

Dr. Gilbert M. LaSalle was born on his father's farm in Noble town¬ ship, of Wabash county, on August 29, 1870. While growing to man¬ hood he had the experiences of the average country lad, assisting in the farm labor, and attending district school. Subsequently he was a student in the Wabash City schools, and in the old Wabash Normal located on the south side. His most pronounced talent during his youth was an inherent fondness for music, and his proficiency in this line led to work which might well have developed into a permanent career. For one year, from the time he was nineteen years old he was instructor and the leader of the band at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. In the mean¬ time he had definitely determined on the medical profession for his career, and returning to Wabash he read under the direction of Dr. R. E. Blount, and Dr. James Wilson in that city. The winter of 1892-93, was spent as a student in the Chicago Medical College. In 1893-94, he attended the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, and it being his desire to accumulate every thing in the way of medical instruction and knowledge, irrespective of systems, he next entered the Hahne¬ mann Medical College of Chicago, where he was a student during 1894-95, and graduated there M. D. in the spring of 1895. With this equipment for his wTork, Dr. LaSalle located at Wabash, and has since enjoyed generous professional success. While a general practitioner, of late years, he has drifted largely into surgical work, and in this field has achieved distinction. He is a member of the Wabash County Med¬ ical Society, and the Indiana State and the American Medical Asso¬ ciation. His political support is given to the republican party, and fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias. To Dr. LaSalle's marriage with Miss Daisy Summerland, on July 30, 1895, two children have been born, namely: Eleanor and Robert. Both the doctor and Mrs. LaSalle are members of the Christian church.

John Niccum. For more than six decades the Niccum family have been useful and influential citizens of Wabash county. Their chief centers of activity has been in Waltz township, though the name is not without popular significance all over the county. The best known mem¬ ber of the family is Mr. John Niccum, who recently retired from the office of sheriff of Wabash county and who for two years served the

The founder of the family in this section was Charles Niccum who died in 1884, and was one of the early settlers. He located on section thirty-six in township twenty-six north, range five east (Waltz township) in March, 1852. He was bom in Darke county, Ohio, in 1825, was reared on a farm, and in 1844, before reaching his majority, married* Sarah Coble. Sarah Coble 's father and other relatives settled in Wa¬ bash county about 1850, and the young man and his wife followed them and began housekeeping in Waltz township. The late Charles Niccum was rather under the average size physically, but what he lacked in physical stature was more than offset by his intense activity. He worked hard, and while he had but limited education, he had a large fund of practical sense, was quiet and unobstrusive and was reckoned as a firstclass neighbor. Possessed of considerable determination, he took to studying long after he had become a man in order that he might the better measure up to the responsibilities and privileges of American citizenship. In politics he was a republican up to the time Horace Greeley became a candidate for the presidency, and after that was a democrat. He and his wife had ten children, six of whom are still living.

John Niccum, the oldest of these children, was bora December 18, 1845, in Darke county, Ohio, and was therefore seven years old when he became a resident of Wabash county. With the exception of three years' residence in Jasper county, Indiana, he has always made his home in Wabash county, and up to 1910, in Waltz township. He was reared to hard work on the old farm, and such limited education as he obtained was acquired by a few months attendance during the winter term at the neighboring district school. Mr. Niccum is one of the young¬ est men in Wabash county who had a military record as a Union soldier during the Civil war. In February, 1865, a few months before the sur¬ render of the southern army, he enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred and Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and from that time until the close of the war was employed on garrison and guard duty, for the most part in Kentucky. After his honorable discharge at the close of the war he resumed farming, and in time found himself possessed of a good property, and has always managed in such a way as to return a surplus. His home place in Waltz township comprises ninety acres of the fine farming land in that section.

It has come about almost as a matter of course that Mr. Niccum should be a republican in politics. He has voted and worked with that party since the first Grant campaign, but never held any office of consequence until 1910, when he was the successful candidate for sheriff of Wabash county. In 1912 his party again nominated him for the office, but owing to the general ascendancy of the democracy during that year he met defeat. But he was again nominated by the republicans as sheriff on April 15, 1914.

To their union, which has endured for upwards of half a century, has been bom a large family of twelve children, whose names and brief mention of whose positions in life are as follows: Sarah, who died at the age of six months; Lovena, who died aged nineteen years; Cora, who died at the age of seventeen - Dillard, who married Nellie Bowman, had one son, Lewis Earl, Dillard died when only twenty-one years old ; Ovid, who married Nora Long, has eight children, and is a prosperous farmer in Noble township of this county; Sarah, who died in infancy; Charles Samuel, who married Lodi Forrest, has five children, and is a farmer in Liberty township; Abbie, wife of Arthur Brewer, of Otsego, Michigan has one daughter; John Earl, who married Edith Clark, has two children and lives in Goshen, Indiana; Edith, unmarried; Lewis, who married Marie Garst, and lives in Wabash, is a member of the firm of Niccum & Dumbaugh, automobile dealers of Wabash; Guy, who died when about six months old. Mr. Niccum is affiliated with the Masonic fraternities, and he and his wife worship with the Missionary Baptist church.

John H. Morrow. The business career of John H. Morrow has been one of a constantly upward character, and he has advanced steadily and consistently in the various enterprises with which he has identified himself until today, as a principal member of The Morrow Grain Company, he is one of the foremost business men of the county.

Mr. Morrow is a native son of this county and state, born in Waltz township on the 11th of December, 1868, a son of C. H. and Joanna Mor¬ row. When he was about two years old the family of John H. Morrow moved from Waltz township to Liberty township, and there he was reared to manhood and received his education in the district schools. While yet in his 'teens he began teaching, and he taught his first coun¬ try school in the southeast corner of Wabash county. Up to the year 1898 he continued with his teaching activities, spending the winters in that work and his summers at other labors. He moved to La Fontaine in September, 1895, and there spent three more years in teaching, devoting a part of that time to the intermediate grades of the LaFontaine schools, teaching ten years all told. He passed his summers clerking in the local stores and in buying wool, and in this way he continued until WOO, when he was elected the trustee of Liberty township. He held that office for four years, and during that period also managed the retail store of Martin & Company, In 1904 Mr. Morrow was elected treasurer of Wabash county, and he discharged the duties of that office in a most creditable manner through four years of continuous service, having been twice elected. During this time he was also engaged as a wool buyer in the county, which line of work he still follows, and on the 1st of January, 1910, in association with Frank Paul, he also embarked in the agricul¬ tural and implement business, under the name of Paul & Morrow. They established themselves at Wabash, where they continued the business successfully until January 1, 1912, when the enterprise passed into the hands of J. H. Morrow & Son, but in October, 1913, they sold their inter- ests in the firm. On the 15th of May, 1912, Mr. Morrow, with his brother, Garl Morrow, engaged in business under the name of The Morrow Grain Company, and they bought three grain elevators, located respectively at Rich Valley, Lagro and Wabash. The three had been owned by W. A. Elward up to that time. The new relationship has continued in a prosperous and profitable business since its establishment.

Mr. Morrow is a staunch republican and an able advocate of party principles in the county. He is a member of the Christian church, as is also his wife. On the 1st of September, 1889, he was married to Mary E. Sparks, a native of Wabash county and a daughter of William T. and Missouri Sparks. The seven children born to this union are Floy, Howard and Hazel (twins), Fannie, Harry, Frederick and Mary Alice.

Valentine A. Mattern. One of the prominent business men of Wabash is Valentine A. Mattern, whose interests have kept him in that city regularly since 1882, and who is a lifelong resident of Wabash county. He has been identified with various enterprises in the county seat, both as an employee and owner, and for the past fourteen years his name has been associated with one of the largest dry goods estab¬ lishments of the city. Mr. Mattern is a clear-headed business man and has wron his success through his own efforts. With small capital to begin with, hard work and application to business has given him an enviable position, and in spite of the many calls that are made upon his time in business matters, he is deeply concerned for the public welfare and gives much attention to matters of public interest.

Valentine A. Mattern was born on his father's farm in Paw Paw township of Wabash county, August 23, 1858. His father was Valen¬ tine Mattern, who was born in Schmidtweiler in the Province Bayern, Canton Rockenhausen, Germany. His own career as an early Wabash county citizen had many notable points of interest and achievements, and deserves more than passing mention. His people were farmers and in his native land he was reared to young manhood, receiving such advantages in an educational way as are accorded to the youth of Ger¬ many. When he was twenty years old he left home and took passage aboard a sailing vessel, in company with the family of John Schwartz, emigrating with them to America. On their arrival at New York, the little party made its way to Toledo, Ohio, thence by way of the Wabash & Erie Canal to Wabash, Indiana. Mr. Mattern was unattached and without other friends, and found a home with the Schwartz family who had settled on a farm near Urbana. Here he married Katherine Schwartz, the daughter of the house.

For perhaps eleven years after his location in Wabash county, Mr. Mattern farmed continuously and contentedly after which he moved to Wabash and for two years worked at the carpenter's trade. Then, for a similar period, he gave his attention to the butcher business, and after that experience bought a farm some two and a half miles north of Wabash. It was a place of one hundred and sixty acres, all wood¬ land with the exception of a half acre where a log cabin stood. Into the cabin were moved family, household gods and all their various and sundry possessions, settling down to the steady pull that any attempt to wrest a living from such untaught soil must of necessity mean. With the passing years Mr. Mattern cleared the land and converted what had been a barren wilderness into a valuable and productive farm. He added to his original possessions until in time he held three hundred and twenty acres in that vicinity, and he came to be one of the most prosperous men of the township. Though Mr. Mattern came to this country a poor boy, unfamiliar with the spoken tongue of the people or with their customs and manners, he eventually reached a position of prominence in his community and gained the sincere esteem and regard of his neighbors. He had been reared to a life of industry and frugality, and these qualities, combined with his native honesty, pro¬ duced a steadiness of character that brought him success where others, better established financially, but less fortunate in their early training, could only have experienced failure. He worked hard that he might provide a suitable home for his family, and give to his children educa¬ tional advantages and such other opportunities as seemed best for them, and which he had not been able to have in his own youth. He was a man of excellent habits, steady and methodical, and of a religious turn of mind. He was a member of the Evangelical church. Both he and his wife died in Wabash. To them were born twelve children, nine of whom grew to years of maturity, and eight of the number are living at this writing. The living members of the family are here named: Peter A., a resident of Wabash; Valentine A. of Wabash; Adam E., living near Andrews in Huntington county ; Anna, the wife of John Mattern of Wabash county; Elizabeth, who married F. C. Zimmer, of Wabash; Helena, the wife of Wm. Yentes, living near Urbana, in Wabash county; Caroline married Lewis Yentes and lives near Andrews; John H. lives in Lincolnville, Wabash county; Mary, the third eldest of the children who reached mature years, married Christian Wendel, and both are now deceased. The three other children of Mr. and Mrs. Mattern died in infancy.